Rachel Wilson's Elite Women in Ascendancy Ireland, 1690–1745: Imitation and Innovation is a significant and welcome contribution to the history of both women and the elite classes in Ireland. Her detailed and thorough approach to both the lives of the subjects she studies and the source material she utilizes establish the book as critical reading in this area of research.

In the introduction, Wilson states, “what is needed, and what this book will seek to provide, is an examination of the lives of elite women in Ireland which deals with more subjects than a case study, in a tighter timeframe than current surveys” (4–5). This thoughtful approach and scope, which combines both individual and collective narratives, results in a thorough and meaningful investigation. It is both sufficiently detailed to be engaging and rigorous and sufficiently broad to have something meaningful to say. Wilson continues to explain that her aims are “to question how far their [women's] lives changed” and “to establish to what extent women in Ireland were influenced by their closest neighbours” (5). This last question is particularly important, and the complexities of the relationship between the elite classes in Ireland and their British counterparts is a subject that has received more focused and long overdue attention by scholars of seventeenth and eighteenth-century Irish history in recent years. Jane Ohlmeyer's Making Ireland English: The Irish Aristocracy in the Seventeenth Century (2012), is among the most significant of these new works that explore this relationship. Wilson's study, which addresses the half century following Ohlmeyer's study period, will serve as an excellent companion to that work, and scholars working in this field will need to address her findings closely.

In the book's seven chapters Wilson investigates different aspects of elite women's lives in detail. These cover marriage, reproduction and motherhood, domestic roles, responsibilities in estate management, socializing, political involvement, and institutional philanthropy. Among the most interesting of these is chapter 1, which deals with marriage, and particularly its discussion of separation and divorce; subjects about which very little has been written in an Irish context. The section dealing with the subject of Irish women's education, in chapter 2, is also an interesting discussion of an issue about which equally little has been said. Another important contribution is Wilson's exploration of the ways in which elite women held and wielded significant authority. Similarly, agency is a theme that unifies much of the discussion.

Wilson does not deny the restrictions and limitations placed upon elite women in this period, but she also successfully demonstrates that there were many areas, such as the domestic sphere, estate management, and even politics, in which women held and exercised considerable responsibility. For example, Wilson highlights the role and power of individuals such as Juliana Boyle, dowager Countess of Cork and Burlington, and Catherine O'Brien of Dromoland, County Clare, who were both dowager guardians of their sons' vast estates. Likewise, through the discussion of politics, Wilson demonstrates that elite women were actively engaged and involved in the political sphere, serving as informants, assistants, and lobbyists to the male politicians of their families. Women's attendance at the Irish parliament was also strongly supported and facilitated. Through estate management and political activity, but also through the more traditional aspects of their roles as wives, mothers, social networkers, and benevolent philanthropists, elite women actively promoted the interests, status, and wealth of their families.

In addition to establishing much-needed foundational information on a range of topics relating to women's roles in the Protestant Ascendancy, perhaps the most valuable contribution of the book is the detailed biographical information it provides on a number of individuals from important families, including the Butlers, Boyles, Brodricks, O'Briens and Conollys. The discussion of both the families and their notable members is possibly the book's greatest achievement. Scholars working on a range of subjects relating to these families will find this account extremely useful, as to date, very little information on the lives of important figures such as Lady Frances Keightley and her daughter Mrs. Catherine O'Brien has been established. As Wilson demonstrates elegantly, these women were far from being “bit-parts” or “shrinking violets,” but were hugely influential, not just in the familial and domestic realms but also socially and politically.

Despite its overall comprehensiveness, the book would benefit from more discussion of some of the findings and themes raised. At just less than two pages the conclusion is tantalizingly brief, and there is scope for Wilson to elaborate on some of her findings in future publications. While Wilson's conclusions of the book are ultimately significant and sound, further discussion of certain issues and themes, and more engagement with theory, would have made these stronger and reinforced their importance to the field. Ultimately though, this criticism should be read as an indication of the significance of the work, its relevance to Irish history and its topical and engaging material and approach. This book should be seen as essential reading for scholars of Irish women's history and the Ascendancy classes, and it has opened up many new sources, lines of inquiry, and questions.